Unified Medical Language System® (UMLS®)

RxNorm Current Prescribable Content

The RxNorm Current Prescribable Content is a subset of currently prescribable drugs found in RxNorm. We intend it to be an approximation of the prescription drugs currently marketed in the US. The subset also includes many over-the-counter drugs.

The subset includes only the active RxNorm normalized names, codes (RxCUIs), attributes, and relationships, as well as the FDA structured product label drugs and ingredients and the small set of CMS data. It does not include data from any of the other 14 RxNorm data providers, such as First DataBank, Micromedex, or the Veterans Administration. We also removed suppressed and obsolete data SAB=RXNORM.

The National Library of Medicine provides this subset without any licensing restrictions. You do not need to log into the UMLS Terminology Services to access the subset.

We have scripts for loading the RxNorm data into Oracle and MySQL databases; these are included with the release files. For directions on using the load scripts, see Section 13 of the technical documentation.

Are the subset components flagged in the regular RxNorm release?

All ingredient and drug names found in the Current Prescribable Content subset are flagged with a value of "4096" in the CVF field in the RXNCONSO, RXNSAT, and RXNREL fields of the RxNorm Full Monthly Release Files.

What is the release cycle for the subset?

We produce the subset at the beginning of each month with the RxNorm full monthly release. You can download the subset from the RxNorm Files page.

We also provide weekly updates that contain new data from the FDA Structured Product Labels (SAB=MTHSPL) and the SAB=RXNORM normalized names that go with them. The weekly updates are meant to be used in conjunction with the monthly release of the Current Prescribable Content. You can download the weekly updates from the RxNorm Files page as well.

You can also access the monthly release and the weekly updates of the Current Prescribable Content subset within the download files for the regular RxNorm releases.

This subset is in draft form and will change over time. We welcome comments on the content and format. Please contact us at: rxnorminfo@nlm.nih.gov